Uhde targets 18,000 bbl/day capacity for coal-to-liquids project

17 April 2012 17:28[Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--ThyssenKrupp Uhde’s planned coal-to-liquids project in ?xml:namespace>Mongolia is likely to have a capacity of up to 18,000 bbl/day of either gasoline or diesel, an official at the Germany-based petrochemicals engineering firm said on Tuesday.

Claudio Marsico, director of sales of ThyssenKrupp Uhde’s gas technologies division, told ICIS that the project will likely be built at either Tugrug Nuur or Sainshand in Mongolia.

The company announced last week that it is preparing to build the project but at the time did not disclose the planned capacity or the location in Mongolia.

Marsico said he could not say when exactly the project may start up or how much it will cost, citing confidentiality.

The government of Mongolia will likely be a key stakeholder in the project, he said. However, officials are analysing a number of project ownership scenarios, he said.

Marsico added that ThyssenKrupp Uhde is currently working on basic engineering for a 1m tonne/year methanol-to-gasoline project by China’s Jincheng Anthracite Coal Mining Group in Shanxi province.

ThyssenKrupp Uhde was also in charge of engineering work for Jincheng’s existing 100,000 tonne/year methanol-to-gasoline plant in Shanxi province.

In addition, ThyssenKrupp Uhde is working on plans for a number of projects to convert coal or biomass to gasoline or methanol in other countries – including the US, France and Mozambique - Marsico said without disclosing specific details.